


Time Changes Everything

by AzureSynergy



Series: The Cure [2]
Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Angst, Dad!Simon, Demons, F/F, Fluff, Hiding Medical Issues, Hurt/Comfort, Overprotective girlfriend, Terminal Illnesses, Touch-Starved, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:53:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27677008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzureSynergy/pseuds/AzureSynergy
Summary: Vampire's don't get sick.So why is Marcy coughing up blood?
Relationships: Princess Bubblegum/Marceline
Series: The Cure [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807156
Comments: 18
Kudos: 183





	1. Altered State Of Being

Marceline counts down from one thousand as she listens to the birds outside start to sing. 

Below her Bubblegum is starting to stir. 

She keeps her eyes closed and forces herself to keep breathing steadily.

993

Her ears pick up the exact moment Bubby's breathing changes as she's pulled awake. Then the rustling of bedsheets, a yawn. She forces herself not to smile at how cute her girlfriend sounds. 

986

985

The bathroom light is flipped on.

982

The sound of the toilet lid clanking against porcelain.

978

Teeth being brushed.

954

Her nose starts to itch. Don't sneeze. Don't sneeze. Don't-

"Marcy?" Bubblegum murmurs softly as her footsteps pat closer. "You awake?" Her skin tingles where Bubby's warm hand rubs over her arm. 

921

Faking sleep, she mumbles nothing and rolls over, feeling her hair pulled down by gravity while see keeps floating. 

A soft sigh. 

"Well I suppose it is early for a vampire to be up." She whispers, but it's not exactly something her advanced hearing can't pick up on. 

Then she's walking away. Marceline hears her climbing down the ladder - walking to the kitchen. 

Next there's the distinct sound a pen makes scratching against paper. 

753

The front door opens and closes. Outside she hears Bubblegum yell: "SkrEeeEii" then a couple counts later the flapping of wings. 

After comes the silence she knows so well. 

457

She stays floating until she reaches zero. Then drops down onto her feet. The floor is cold. The room is cold. Around her everything is a dark blue and the light coming from her window is mostly dulled by the cave. 

With a sigh she floats over to her recording equipment. Who knows how much time she'll have until Bubb's returns. 

She opens up her journal, grabs the new bass Bonny gave her after they came back from the glass kingdom, and hits the record button.

Mommy, it's been so long

So so long since you've been gone 

And I thought time would take away my pain

But here I am strumming again

Daddy, it's been so long

So so long since you've been along with me

On the same page, and maybe it's because we're a different age

But I want you both to know

That your actions made me grow

Your actions made me grow 

Uncomfortable.

How am I to understand love

If you've given me distance and not enough

How am I supposed to know

How to feel comfortable 

I'm hungry for a touch that doesn't burn

But the sun just always makes me burn.

"Ugh, no that's stupid!" Marceline punches the recording button and slams down her bass. Her fingers tangle into her hair and she shakes her head. 

"How am I supposed to write anything good if I don't feel angry?" She throws herself back in her chair, making it fall over. Instead of plonking onto the floor she lazily floats, kicking her feet in frustration. 

Her stomach growls. With a sigh she floats down to the kitchen. Instead of opening the fridge, though, she grabs the note Bonnie left and read it over.

Blah blah blah- science- blah. Be back soon. 

Ugh. She crumples the note up and throws it in an arc. The paper bounces off the side of the trash can and plops away. Uuuuuggghh.

Marcy floats over and picks it up. The movement disturbs something in her chest and she coughs a little. She rubs gently over her shirt, shrugs, and drops the paper in the trash. 

All she needs is some red to get her feeling right as sword rain. 

* * *

Bonnie didn't come back until late afternoon just as the sun was setting. Which is fine, Marceline slept the entire day anyway. 

She was sitting in the living room, strumming lazily at an acoustic guitar- feet up in the air, when Bubblegum opened the front door. 

Weird, she didn't even hear her coming. To be fair she was dingling around with some cords. Still, she did tense up at the door suddenly opening. 

"Oh good you're awake!" Bonnie chirps while heaving a stack of thick books onto the living room floor. "Come over here and help me with this." She picks up the top book - a tome thicker than Ash's head - and flips it to a page full of tiny writing. 

"Eew, reading." She complains without bite, and drops her guitar to float over. Marceline drops down - legs criss cross - and bends over to squint at the words. "So whatsup?" She can at least pretend to be interested in Bubbs' science-y stuff. 

"The Theory of Special Relativity, that's wassuuuuup." Bonnie dragged out and made an attempt at being punk rock. All she succeeded in was looking adorkable. 

Marceline smirked, thumbing a page and lifting the corner. "You've got your special relativity right here, what'cha need this book for?" She teased and bumped shoulders. 

Bubb's gently pushes her hand away from the page she was teasing at and points to a weird cube looking drawing. 

"Well I was thinking about how you're able to substitute your usual vampiric diet for something less gory - the colour red of course - and how that's possible. You see colour is merely-"

"A component of light which is separated when it is reflected off of an object - hey don't look at me like that I actually pay attention when you go off in your brainiac tangents." Marceline flips her hair over her shoulder and stares at the wall as she feels her cheeks flush from the sparkly-wide-eyed-smiling-cute face of her girlfriend. 

Bonnie clears her throat and nods, composing herself. "Yes, exactly. Well - uhm, where was I going with this," she mutters, "oh yes of course!" She picks up and taps the page. 

"So my hypothesis is that you don't eat colour, but rather you consume the ether!" She grins so wide and looks so proud that Marcy's heart skips a beat. 

As much as she enjoys the light in Bonnie's eyes when she talks about her passion, she just doesn't have the brain to keep up with her. 

"Okayyy," she drawls, not really seeing the point to all this, "so why do you need to know this?" Was she trying to rope her into another experiment. Because as much as she loves this woman, she's not sticking another tube up her-

"My _point_ is that ether is the essence of emptiness. Basically luminiferous ether was proposed in order to explain the capacity of light to propagate through apparently empty space."

"Yeah you lost me again." Marcy floats over to her guitar and picks it up, strumming the cords to the song she was trying to write earlier. 

"Well that's why I have all these books. So I can study waves and the source of reality, but mostly time, to figure out a way-"

"Okay, see now waves, I understand." She cuts in, feeling a little guilty at the put upon frown Bonnie throws her, and plays a c minor, moving her fingers up the thread board. 

"Well at least you understand the concept." Bonnie concedes, then puts her glasses on and pushes her nose into the book.

Well there she goes. 

Marceline resigns herself to being girlfriend-less for the next couple of hours until she'll be forced to pull Bonnie from her land of nerdiness to eat something. 

To be honest, its soothing to have someone around - even if they're doing their own thing. Its much better company than rocks with doodled faces. 

* * *

Usually Marceline feels full of energy at night, but they've been in the living room long into the night and she feels just as tired as when she woke up. 

It's a strange feeling for her, seeing as vampires don't really get tired easily, but for some reason she can't keep her eyes open.

She gave up trying to play her guitar or steal Bonnie's attention, and was currently curled up on the floor with her head in Bubblegum's lap. 

Occasionally she will be stirred from her sleepy attempts at staying awake by the soft sound of a page turning and the gentle movement that came with it. 

At some point a warm hand found its way into her hair. She blinks slower and slower as the fingers scratch at her scalp. Eventually the gentle petting finds its way behind her pointy ears and - oh glob. 

Marcy closes her eyes and curls in tighter, pushing into the hand that's massaging the sensitive spot. Oh yeah, a little to the left - the finger moves, scratches a little - that feels so good. 

She lets out a soft moan and burries her head into Bonnie's lap, tilting her head up a little more.

Eventually her breathing evens and she slips into sleep.

* * *

Marceline scratches out the last stanza of her song in frustration. Somehow she can't seem to find the right words to say what she wants to. Everytime she tries she just ends up writing something that has nothing to do with her original theme. 

"What'cha doing?" Bonnie pops out from the kitchen, startling her enough the fumble with the pen. 

She clears her throat and slaps her notebook closed. "Just writing a stupid song." She grumbles and throws the book onto the sofa. 

Bubblegum hums a little as she walks closer, carrying a plate of - Marcy sniffs the air - strawberry cupcakes (still warm). 

"You shouldn't be so unkind to yourself. I'm sure whatever you've got so far is perfectly adequate." She puts the plate in Marceline's lap, then picks up the notebook and takes a seat right next to her. 

She can feel the warmth of the cupcakes through the plate, but her attention is entirely on the way Bonnie's legs are pressed against hers. 

Marceline picks the tastiest looking cupcake and, before Bonnie could crack open the cover to take a look at the lyrics, swaps the book with the treat. 

"Now, now, no peeking. It's not done yet." She rewards Bonnie's amused giggles with a gleaming grin. 

With more interest than is appropriate, she watches her girlfriend take a delicate bite of the pink frosting. Why does she have to look so sexy with everything she does? She's gonna be the death of her undead heart.

And then those blue eyes turn to her. 

Marceline feels her heart jump a bit when Bubbs' eyes go wide and she drops the cupcake.

"Your nose!" She exclaims and suddenly a pair of soft hands are cupping her cheeks, tilting her head up.

"What?" Marceline is truly startled by Bonnie's actions. Where did that come from?

"You're _bleeding_!" She yells, as if it's supposed to be obvious.

Without a shred of grace, Marcy takes a deep horking sniff, and sure enough, the taste of half vamp-demon blood slid down her throat. 

Bonnie recoils and pulls a face. She brings her hands close to her chest like touching Marceline might poison her little candy handy's. 

Yet, before Marcy could even be upset, Bubb's gently wiped the trail of blood from her upperlip with furrowed brows. 

"This is highly unusual. An unprovoked nosebleed. Hmm." Her attention drifts over Marceline's shoulder, and the vampire is pretty sure her girlfriend is staring into the fifth dimension right about now.

Marceline takes the plate of cupcakes and puts it on the coffee table they built earlier this month.

"Well, maybe I just popped a vein because of how adorable you are." Marceline flirts and leans in closer, as if to kiss Bon-Bon. She's satisfied with the result. Bonnie's eyes go wide, she blushes, and her hands go from the vampire's face down to grip her shirt. 

"You silly goof." She leans in closer and their noses touch, and whispers, "You made me drop the cupcake." Then instead of pulling away she plants a soft kiss to Marcy's lips.

Marceline melts into the affection like a starving traveller and winds her arms around her girlfriend's hips. Then tugs her closer. Bonnie moves without complaint until she's sitting on her lap. 

Her body is warm and soft and smells like affection and she gets lost in the kiss, lips moving like well versed dancers. 

Those gentle hands are woven between her inky hair again. They play her like an instrument and soon she's singing from pleasure. 

Always seeming to find the right spots to caress to get her undone. 

Marceline suspects Bonnie catalogued all her reactions like the scientist she is, and uses them accordingly. 

"You know," Bonnie breaks the kiss and leans in to whisper in her ear. The warm breath sends a shock down her spine. "It's a scientific fact that our bed is more comfortable than the couch."

Ever thankful for her vampiric powers, she sweeps Bonnie into her arms and flies up to the bedroom.

A shame the cupcakes cooled down...

* * *

There's something wrong. Marceline realises this the moment Bonnie finishes splaying the blanket across the grass. 

She sits down against the foot of the tree and takes her wide brimmed hat from her head. A few deep breaths don't help at all. Her chest feels like it's burning and she can't seem to inhale without something _hurting._

Bonnie is speaking, something about it being a nice warm day and pretty clouds and what-what. It's hard to focus beyond the need to breathe. 

A cough rips from deep in her chest, and she quickly covers her mouth. Weirdly enough she feels better. She feels better. 

Marcy stands up and moves to her girlfriend, taking the picnic basket from her hand. "Allow me, princess." She says playfully with a small bow.

Her ears thank her for the laugh she gets from Bonnie. 

"Thank you, my queen." Bonnie bows right back, giggling all the while, and sits down on the chekered blanket. 

They spend the next few hours telling jokes, and feeding eachother strawberries until the sun sets, at which point Marceline pulls the blanket over Bonnie's head and laughs, floating away. 

"You little minx." She gasps, pushing the blanket from her face. 

"Oh, are you just gonna take it?" She smirks, feeling her fangs graze over her lips. Her smile widens when her girlfriend narrows her eyes and gets up dangerously slowly. 

"You're gonna eat those words, Marceline." She warns, then pounces. 

Marcy dodges easily, laughing, and shoves lightly at Bonnie's back. She turns around and lunges again, her fingers grazing the vampire's red converse. 

"Ha! You're it!" Bonnie yells and guns it in the opposite direction. 

She follows the bounce of pink hair, gives her a minute advantage, then shifts into a wolf. Marcy howls, omniously, lifts her paw and postures dangerously when she sees Bonnie look at her. 

Again she smirks, more fang now, and growls a little, pleased when Bonnie lets out a squeek and runs faster. 

And then she gives chase. 

Bonnie was right - it is a nice day - and an ever nicer night. 

It didn't even take a minute for her to catch up. What she didn't expect was Bonnie to whirl around with a blaster in her hands and aim it at her. 

She has a split second to dodge, her fur scraping the grass. A whoomp goes by her flank as the air is displaced. Her eyes follow the yellow shot. 

Oh, so the princess is playing paralyze the predator, huh? Well - the queen is playing push the prey to the ground and lick her- no wait not in public. 

Her ears pick up a second whoomf coming her way. She rolls out the way, stands up, and lets her claws dig into the ground. 

The chase is ON. 

Halfway across the field she shifts into a monster bat, her wings extending behind her. 

Bonnie starts shooting desperately, laughing all the while, as Marcy successfully dodges. Then she swoops down, paws extended - closer and closer.

Only for a yellow blomp to hit her square between the eyes. 

Her entire body freezes up like an ice cube and she drops onto the ground. 

"Ha! Haha! Boom! I am victorious! Uh huh, uh huh." Bonnie dances right in front of her, arms and blaster pumping enthusiastically. "And so a princess becomes the queen!" She straightens up and melodramatically starts waving a cupped hand. 

Marceline would smile, but she couldn't even manage to blink. Yeah, yeah, go ahead - rub it in. 

All of a sudden her chest starts to hurt again. The need to cough becomes unbearable. Marcy whines a bit at the pain. She can't move. 

Luckily Bubblegum hears it, and she herself freezes at the noise. 

"Marcy?" Her voice pitches with concern, and then her fingers are twisting at her blaster quickly. She aims it at her and fires off a painless shot. 

The instant she unfreezes, Marceline starts to cough viciously. Slowly her body morphs back to normal. She curls up, one hand clutching at her chest the other covering her mouth. 

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Bonnie puts the blaster down and kneels down next to her. 

With another cough of three and the thing in her chest goes away, finally able to breathe again. She just lays there for a couple of seconds, gasping.

As soon as she feels better, she jumps up and tackles Bonnie to the ground.

"Got'cha!" She growls - _lies_ \- and pins her girlfriend's hands above her head. 

Bonnibel's lip turns down and her eyebrows furrow. 

"That's not funny, Marceline, you made me worry." She complains, eyes hardening, and pushes at her arms.

Marcy lets her get up and looks away. Did she make a mistake? There's no way she's gonna make Bonnie worry even more about her just because of a little cough. 

"Well, I mean, it's not that bad. I've done worse?" She stands up and hold her hands out.

Bonnie takes them and lets herself be pulled to her feet. 

"Yeah, but not about something like this. Come on, Marcy, it's not funny." She lets go of her hands and goes to pick up the blaster. 

"I'm sorry, it's just," Ugh, she can't handle how serious this situation got all of a sudden. It's making her super uncomfortable, "I couldn't take your dancing anymore." She chuckles, but as soon as the words are out she realises how mean they sound. Marceline grimaces, glad that Bonnie's back is to her. 

"Oh." Bonnibel whispers.

"No - no, I didn't mean-" she tries to rectify, "I mean it's," she cuts herself off when she sees the way Bonnie's back straightens and her shoulders tighten. 

Glob! Why did she have to go and ruin their night? Stupid! Stupid! 

"Let's just go home, okay? I'm tired." She whispers and walks away. 

Marceline watches her go, a cavity growing in her heart. Deflated, she turns to go get the blanket and picnic basket, left under the tree.

* * *

Marceline's so tired and now she can't even get a decent day's sleep. With eyes still closed, she shakes away the nightmare that woke her. 

Uuuuuuuhhh. Her head huuurtss! She rolls over and clutches her hair.

The bed next to her is - thankfully - empty. It's not like Bonnie to sleep during the day anyway. Marcy's actually glad that her girlfriend is downstairs studying. If Bonnie were here when she woke up gasping for breath, she isn't sure how she would have played off her distress. 

Another lance stabs her brain and she gasps, curling up in a tiny ball. Long legs pressing against her stuffy chest. Laying like this isn't making it easier to breathe, but it does offer the illusion of protection against the pain. 

Marceline doesn't think she can go on like this. She needs to tell Bonnibel something is wrong with her. Maybe then she can science something up to make the vampire feel better. 

A little dizzy and definitely blind from the pain, Marcy tumbles out of bed and feels her way over to the ladder. 

She's honestly too exhausted to float down. 

Halfway down the rungs, her foot slips and she bumps her hip as she lands on the floor with a loud crash. Her limbs flail everywhere.

"Toots, that globbing hurt!" She groans.

"Marcy!" Bonnie yells, and she hears her footsteps running over. 

"What happened?" Her voice is laced with concern as soft hands help her up and over to the sofa.

Marceline stumbles a bit, eyes still screwed shut against her raging headache. 

"Bon, I dunno what's wrong. I think... maybe I might have a little tiny headache." She forces herself to say. 

"Well of course you do, silly, you fell down the ladder." Her voice is ever gentle and Marcy feels her soft pink hands coax hers away from where they're still grabbing at her throbbing temples. 

"No - I mean - ugh," she winces in pain, "I think I might have a migraine." She finally opens her eyes to look at Bonnie. 

The light in the room, however dull it may be, sends more pain through her brain and she quickly shuts her eyes again. It felt like the lamps were attacking her. 

A soft hand touches her forehead and it feels so cold that Marcy sinks into the feeling.

"Marcy! You're burning up!" Bonnie wails and shoots up. 

Marceline tips forward and plops face-first onto the sofa. Her ears pick up on the sound of Bon-Bon running into the kitchen. 

She doesn't focus of that too long as soon her chest constricts and she starts coughing. Marceline covers her mouth. She coughs and coughs, but it doesn't satisfy her lungs the way it used to before. 

Worst of all the coughing is just aggravating her headheadache.

She keeps coughing even when Bonnie comes back and puts her head in her lap. There's something cold being placed on her forehead. Through her red flannel shirt she feels her girlfriend rubbing her back. 

Finally she manages to cough out the intrusion in her lungs. A wet blob lands in the palm of her hand. 

The cold on her forehead helps a lot, enough for her to open her eyes and see what caused her misery. 

When she unfolds her palm - every nerve in her body turns to ice. Beside her Bonnie gasps and her hand stops rubbing her back. 

Blood? 

"How is this possible? Marcy? You can't be sick! Vampires don't get sick!" Her voice rises in pitch as the panic starts to set it. The hand that was previously comforting her, is now holding her shirt in a vice grip. 

Marceline just stares at her palm. At her blood. It's all she can do to stay sane, because she's seen this before. And the horror of her situation is making her guts tremble. 

"This is a joke right? I swear, Marcy, you better not be pranking me!" Her voice wobbles a bit as she tries to be angry as possible. But it just sounds like desperation to Marceline. 

She swallows, tastes copper in the back of her throat, and lowers her head onto Bonnie's lap. She's utterly _exhausted_ and she just wants to sleep. 

"Not'a joke." Comes her mutter and her arm flops down. "Mommy was sick too." Her mumbles are getting softer and softer as she feels her eyelids close. 

Every muscle in her body relaxes.

There's a hand softly tapping her cheek. "Hey, wait, what do you mean? Marcy?"

But then she's gone, and the last thing she feels is her shoulders being shaken. 

* * *

There's a static buzzing around her when she wakes up, and her back is pressed against something firm and warm. 

"Uugh," Marceline grumbles, moves her head from side to side and slowly opens her eyes. She's - in a lab? Beakers and chemicals and contraptions and doo-dads and - yup this is Bonnie's lab.

She tries to sit up, but the moment she moves her chest closes up. Marceline is coughing up a storm in a second. Her hands - she can't move her hands! They feel tied down. 

What's going on? Why is she here? 

"Subject came to consciousness in a confused and erotic state. Movement caused the immediate onset of haemoptysis. Initiating treatment type A_31." 

That's Bon-Bon's voice. Her science voice. 

Before she could react a mask is placed over her nose and mouth. Pink hands deftly move her hair and put straps behind her pointy ears. 

Cold air flows into her airways. She keeps coughing, but each breath from there on seems to be easier and easier. Until her chest stops burning and the need to cough goes away. 

Marceline drops boneless back onto her... bed (?) and pants. 

"Treatment type A_31 proves successful. Subject's pain was alleviated within thirty seconds and the irritant in the lungs was removed within one minute." 

There's some scratching on paper. The low hiss of the machine as it pumps more air into her mask. 

Marceline hadn't even noticed how easy it was to breathe all of a sudden. Had she gotten so used to stuffy lungs that she's forgotten what clean airways felt like?

"Proceeding now with x-rays of the subject's chest cavity." 

She watches as Bonnie, clad in labcoat and goggles, closes the tube she's laying in. Her pink hands press a few buttons and then a tingling sensation bubbles around her skin for about a minute before she hears a click.

Then Bonnie opens the tube. 

"Hey there, Doctor Mimosa." Marceline rasps, her breath fogging up the mask, and smirks. 

Bonnibel takes off her goggles then comes to stand next to her head. 

"Hey, Count Chocula." She jokes right back and strokes her hair, careful of the mask's straps. "How are you feeling?"

Marceline takes a moment to just look at her girlfriend's blue eyes. Right now they're all messed up with concern. She doesn't know how to feel - knowing she's the one making Bonnie worry. 

"I've been better." She tries to go for nonchalant. It's easier to be facetious. Also she'd rather be anywhere else than in Bonnie's lab. 

The last time she was here, her vampire essence was drained right out of her. 

"Hmm," Bon-Bon hums, thoughtfully, "are you hungry?" she starts untying the straps around Marcy's wrists and legs.

She feels better, knowing she'll be able to move now. Her stomach grumbles on cue. 

"I might be peckish." As soon as the last strap is untied, she pushes herself up; swings her legs off the bed. The room spins a little. 

"Take it easy." Bonnibel orders, hands squeezing her shoulders, and fixes her with a strict glare. "And don't get up. You've been asleep for a while." Her mouth pulls down in a way Marcy knows she does when she's disappointed.

"What?" She asks, covering one of the pink hand on her shoulder with her own. 

"I'm just," she blows out a breath - Marcy notices the dark circles under her girlfriend's eyes - before squaring her shoulders, "so angry at myself for not noticing sooner that something was wrong."

Oh. She's blaming herself. Of course she was. Marcy knows Bubby prides herself on her intelligence and hard work. Overlooking seemingly obvious signs of sickness must make her feel - well - angry. 

But if there's one thing she's learned in revent years, is that anger is just a product of fear. And right now she's pretty sure Bonnie is afraid of not having enough time to- 

"Hey. Focus on what you've already done, okay? Look. I'm not coughing. And you've got x-rays? So we'll figure this out, okay? Besides - I'm half demon half vampire - I'm basically unkillable." She smiles a little, and strokes her thumb over soft pink knuckles. 

"But that's not true!" Bonnie yells so suddenly that Marceline jumps. "You go in the sun and you turn to ash! You get staked and you turn into a cloud of dust! You cough blood, get headaches, nosebleeds and you-" She cuts herself off with a hand over her mouth. 

Marcy watches her pull back and turn her head. Her heart hammers against her chest and an ache travels down into the tips of her fingers, making them twitch. She _hates_ seeing Bonnie so terrified. 

"I can't lose you, Marcy." She breathes, her voice wet and cracking. 

Marceline whines a bit in distress. Her vampire instincts screaming at her - _protect, comfort, do something!_

She takes the mask from her face and scoots off the bed to go to Bubby's side. Her arms wrap around her girlfriend's waist and pulls the distressed princess closer. 

Tucking her head under her chin, Marcy sways them from side to side gently. 

"Let's go in the garden," she starts singing, feeling her throat close up as a tsunami of memories assault her heart, "you'll find something waiting." Tears soak through her shirt, and Marceline tightens her grip, tucks her chin in closer.

"Right there where you left it, laying upside down."

Bonnie chimes in, her voice hesitant, "when you finally find it, you'll see how it's faded,"

Their voices blend together as they sway gently, Bon-Bon wrapping her arms around her and clinging to her shirt between her shoulderblades. 

"The underside is lighter, when you turn it around..."

Marcy keeps singing even when Bonnie stops to hide her tears against her collarbone. 

"Everything stays, right where you left it, everything stays, but it still changes ever so slightly- daily and nightly - in little ways."

She places a kiss on top of Bonnie's hair. 

"Nothing never happening to me. Never." She jokes, and lifts Bonnie's chin with her finger. Tears are still leaking down her cheeks, but her sentence makes Bonnibel laugh. 

"You goof." She wipes her face, takes a deep breath, and sets her jaw into one of determination. Oh. Miss Science princess is back. "Now go sit down and don't take the mask off again. I'm going to go take a look at your scans. We'll figure this thing out."

A gentle shove prompts her to do as told. With a smirk she obliges. 

Only once Bonnie is out of the lab does she let her smirk drop.

Maybe she should just leave while she can? At least that way Bonnie doesn't have to see her die. She doesn't want her to go through that. 

Even she didn't have to go through that with Mommy. 

Marceline doesn't have the courage to tell Bonnie that there is no cure for cancer. 


	2. Melodramatic Mentality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon is not okay.

"- see her!" 

"Come back later, she's sleeping."

Marceline stirs, unplugged from a dream already forgotten. She rolls over on the couch. A blanket that wasn't there before slips from her shoulders onto the floor. 

"You said that yesterday! Please just-" The voices break off into heated whispers.

In the doorway she sees Bonnie's assertive movements, waving away -

"Simon?" Marcy stands up and goes to the door, wiping sleep from her eye. 

The two of them freeze. 

"Marceline!" Simon breathes, sounding relieved. 

Bonnie exhales and opens the door, to which the former Ice King slips through. 

He gives her an instant hug. She stifens under the sudden contact, her skin buzzing uncomfortably. 

"Did we wake you? Oh my, I'm sorry, it's probably too early to be up." He doesn't break the hug, only tightens. 

"What time is it?" Marceline asks and pushes him away gently. 

"A quater to noon." Bonnie picks up the blanket and folds it.

"Oh wow I've been donked out for a while, huh?" She chuckles a bit, mostly to get rid of the awkward tension. 

"I'm under the impression you need the rest." Simon pipes in and takes a seat. He crosses his legs, uncrosses them, scoots around, then twiddles with his hands. 

Marceline sits next to him. 

"What have you heard?" She fiddles with the hem of her 'no smoking' t-shirt and avoids looking at him. 

"Well no one tells me anything these days, heheHEhe. But I knew something was... up... when you didn't come to my dinner party, hehe." Simon clears his throat. "Not that - I mean - if you didn't want to come you weren't obligated, so I supose I shouldn't have been - you didn't have to." 

Bonnie puts a tray of teacups and biscuits on the table. Marceline hadn't even noticed her leaving the room. She presses a cup into her pale hands and holds out the tray to Simon. 

"That's my fault really," Bonnie explains while he takes a cup, "Marcy was a little... tied up... helping me with some science work." 

Oh so her girlfriend was leaving it to her to tell Simon about her illness? Just great. How noble of her. 

Marceline looks at her tea - a deep rose colour - wafting some steam, and grimaces. She owes it to Simon. He was all worried about her. 

The couch dips as Bonnie sits right next to her - hips pressed close together. She puts a pretty pink hand on her knee and squeezes. 

"Uhm, yeah," her voice breaks a little, "we were - taking scans of my lungs." She starts slowly, not yet ready to drop the bomb. Will she ever be ready? It doesn't exacty get easier. 

Especially knowing that she was the only person Simon had for a very long time. 

"Oh, you're doing some research on the anatomical differences between candy people and human half demon-vampires?" Simon drops a cube of sugar into his drink. 

"Not exactly, no." Bonnie offers a strained smile, and Marcy feels her hand tightening on her knee. 

"We were, uhm, trying to see what is making me sick." Marcy forces out, wishing she could morph into a tiny bat and hide under Bonnie's shirt. 

"Hehe, good one, Marceline, vampires don't get sick." He chuckles and drinks his sweetened tea. When no one else laughs, he looks up.

She's sure he's taking in the hard press of her mouth and the way she frowns. There's no reason to joke about something like this. 

"You're - sick... of living in Ooo?" He tries, eyebrows begging her to put a spin on the truth. 

Marcy makes a hurt little noise in the back of her throat. She can't do this. She can't break his heart. 

"No, Simon. Marceline is sick with some sort of disease. From the scans I was able to conclude that her fits of coughing are caused by an abnormal growth on her lungs." Bonnie squeezes her knee once more before abandoning contact to dunk a biscuit into her tea. 

Simon puts his cup down, takes off his glasses, and polishes them with his cardigan. 

"I see," he puts his glasses back on and nods at Bonnie, "Is it possible for me to take a gander at these scans?" 

"You're hoping to deduce something I haven't." Bonnie murmurs, eats her soggy treat. 

Marceline watches them carefully - a teeny bit bored - and wishes she could leave. 

"Well, if Marceline is sick then it has to be something from before the Mushroom War. That's when she was still human, hehehe - uhm hm. Half human." Simon scoots around nervously. 

Bonnie's eyes go wide and her mouth opens and closes. Then she blinks and schools her expression. 

"But that doesn't make sense, Simon! I wasn't a vampire until at least ten years after-" Marceline bites her tongue. 

_After you left me._ She leaves unsaid. Clears her throat. "Wouldn't it have become a problem earlier?" She shivers a bit and curls into her girlfriend's side.

"Not if we take into account your demon side. It might have fought off the growth in your lungs." He offers. 

"That still doesn't explain why the illness made an appearance now." Bonnie brings up the big issue. She takes the blanket she folded earlier and throws it across Marceline's lap and legs. 

They wander into silence as Simon thinks, pinching the bridge of his nose. Then she feels Bonnie go rigid beside her. She looks up at her, eyes widening as Bon-Bon's pink complexion goes pale as snow. 

"Oh no." She whispers, lifting a shaky hand to cover her mouth. 

"Bonnie?" Marceline sits up and puts a hand on her shoulder. She was shaking like a leaf in winter. "Hey, talk to me, what is it?" 

"Oh glob this is my fault!" Tears are streaming down her cheeks now. Wide blue eyes look at her with such deep anguish that it makes her heart hide in a corner. 

"What are you talking about?" She whispers and wipes the tears from her soft cheeks, keeping her hands there. 

"Yeah, what _are_ you talking about, Princess? It's not your fault!" Simon stands up and moves around the table to crouch next to them. 

"When I - when we sucked your vampire juices out of you, Marcy. You, you didn't have your healing powers - or, or anything! What if the sickness spread faster to make up for a thousand years?! You're all skronked up now because-" 

Marceline steels her gaze and forces Bonnie to look her in the eye. 

"Hey. I made that decision. Besides, you can't blame yourself. Even I didn't know I had cancer." She wipes some more tears away, glad to see Bonnie's breathing was settling down. 

"Cancer?" Simon croaks. 

She realises her mistake instantly, heart shuddering. No no no - she didn't mean to say that. Her lungs start to hurt. Marceline pushes the burn down to focus.

"No," Simon chuckles, stands and takes a step back, "No." And now his voice is up a hysterical octave. "You don't have cancer. No. It's probably just Tuberculosis. Something easy. Yes. Hmm. Yes. In fact, I think I have some medicine back at home." He chuckles again, but his face - too - has turned white. 

"It can't be that, Simon." Marceline tries, hating herself for snapping at his sanity. Beside her Bonnie is eerily silent. "My mom... it's hereditary, okay?! I don't like it anymore than you, but denying this isn't going to-" 

And suddenly she's coughing, the pain in her chest flaring up. She bends over at the sudden force and clutches at her chest, gasping for air between every burst. 

The blanket falls to the ground. Her eyes start to water. All she can focus on is how she needs to get the blockage _out._

It feels like an eternity before the wet plop of blood lands in her palm. Her head is spinning and she can't hear a thing through the ringing in her ears.

Gentle hands guide her to lay down with her head in a soft lap. Then there are kind fingers rubbing at the spot behind her pointy ear. Everything fades from that point on as she sinks, boneless, into the feeling. 

She shivers a bit at the sensation. Man that feels good. So good. 

Marceline closes her eyes, forcing the ache in her chest to subside. And listens as the world moves into focus. 

"-back home for some books." Simon is saying, voice all determined and junk. 

"Yeah." Bonnie whispers, and then her finger puts some pressure on the spot and - oh glob - yeah, don't stop.

Marceline sighs and presses her face into her girlfriend's thigh, angling up to allow more access. She smells sweet and warm. Maybe she can just stay here and forget about everything that happened today?

She's so exhausted, but her mind won't shut down. What is Simon going to do? Sure he's from before the war, but what does he know that can possibly help?

And what about Bonnie? As soon as she falls asleep her girlfriend is just going to work herself into madness for a cure that doesn't exist.

It's her fault for even bringing it up. 

"Hey, hey, shhh. It's alright, I've got you." Bonnie comforts, her mouth close enough to her ear that she can feel her warm breath brushing over it.

Marceline sniffs, tries to hide her tears. 

The air shifts and then a light weight falls over her shoulders. Bonnie tucks the blanket around her, trapping the heat. 

"Please don't go." She rasps, only then realising how sore her throat is from all the coughing. If Bonnie leaves now for some science-cure, she's not sure she'll be able to find peace. 

"He-hey, I'm not going anywhere." Bonnie gentles, but her voice sounds strained like she's holding back her own emotions. 

_But I am._ Marceline thinks, darkly. 

With the last of her strength, she morphs, feeling her skin tighten and her long hair brush back. Until she's a tiny bat.

Crawling from under the now humongous blanket, she climbs up with her tiny claws until she's pressing her face into Bonnie's collarbone. 

She clings to the sweater, shaking, until two hands come up to cup her. Warm fingers scratch the soft fur under her chin. She leans into the contact and relaxes, her body dropping into the soft palms. 

"Come on, it's more comfortable in our room." And then she's being carried, away from the glaring lights of the living room. 

The living room.


	3. Attached

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can't always do things alone. 
> 
> A lesson both Marcy and Bonnie need to learn.

Being a thousand years old has no perks. Marceline curls in closer to Bonnie as they watch a film the old world called: "Toy Story 3". 

The further on the film goes, the more she realises she doesn't care whether or not the plastic things suffer or not. It's not that she doesn't care. It's just that... she's seen enough suffering for thirty lifetimes to not... be affected anymore. Like she's boarded up the windows of her heart.

Feeling sadness and being affected by it, she realises, are two different things. 

Next to her, Bonnie is crying her heart out as the little plastic creatures run for their lives. She pulls her girlfriend closer and presses her face against her neck. 

If there's one thing, Marceline admits, in this world that makes her undead heart beat. It's Bonnibel. No amount of denial will stop her stomach from cramping up or her heart from fluttering out of beat when thinking of her. 

So when the movie ends, Marceline doesn't let go. She tightens her grip around Bonnie's waist, shoulders, and presses her nose into her hair. 

And then she's crying.

Because of the movie's ending. That kinda reflects what she is going through now. In a couple of months - Marceline realises - she too will have to say goodbye to the one she loves the most.

And that hurts more than when she had to sacrifice Hambo. The only one who never judged her or pushed away her feelings before. Other than Bonnie.

Only difference is, Bonnie is alive. And Hambo wasn't. 

Oh god. 

She doesn't want to say goodbye. 

* * *

As cliché as it seems, Marceline can't stop staring out the kitchen window. Most days she just sits down at the table, drink in hand, and finds her gaze wandering over to the stalagtites. 

And then sticking there for hours as her mind takes paths she never knew it could before. Some days she would just stare for hours while not thinking of a single thing. 

Is this what depression is?

* * *

Bonnie finds her, one day, still curled up in bed. Not floating. But hidden under the covers. Eyes wide open. Staring at the wall.

Marceline was staring at a particular spot in the wall. Her thoughts on something about the universe... or something... when she felt a warm hand soothe over her hair. 

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then a fourth. 

And the hand doesn't stop. It keeps going. Warm and constant. Until it pulls her from that distant star. Back into the darkened room. Where Bonnibel is now curled up against her back. One hand resting under her shirt against her stomach, the other combing through her hair. 

Marceline closes her eyes. And feels the tears drop from her eyelashes. Unable to stop them. 

* * *

She thinks about slipping away without saying a word. Just leaving to save her girlfriend and adopted father some pain. 

Marceline goes to Bonnie an hour after thinking about it for the first time. 

"You really think that would be less painful for us?" Bonnibel asks, both hands to her chest. 

She can't look at her pink face when she's all torn up like that. 

"I mean, at least it's better than watching me get sicker every day." She whispers, and scoops some sugar out of the bowl next to their tea cups.

"Oh, Marcy," Bonnie whispers back. Marceline throws three teaspoons of sugar onto the table and slowly spreads out the grains, "not knowing what happened to you... would have been so much worse." 

She drops the spoon at Bon-Bon's words. 

"I would never just leave like that! I promise! Besides, you need me." She forced a cocky smirk and sat back against the sofa. Marceline threw her arm around the backrest and plonked her feet on the table. 

Bonnie raises an eyebrow. "You're about to tell me why?" Not exactly a statement, but not quite a question. Hmph. Leave it to Bonnie to be ambiguous. 

"Who else will be your test subject on the road to finding a cure? As far as I know, I'm the one and only vampire-demon-human-queen thing in all of Ooo." 

Marceline frowns. Wiggles her toes. Eew. Why do her feet feel sticky? Glancing down she pulls a face. Granules of sugar are now melted to her soles. 

"Marcy wants a show~er." She drawls and effortlessly floats up, keeping in mind not to walk with sugar-feet. 

"Wait, Marcy!" Bonnie calls quickly just as she reaches the ladder. She turns around and tilts her head.

Bonnibel looks at her with concern. "Your not a test subject. Not to me. I just - need you to know that... you're not some Petri dish."

Marceline shrugs, she already knows this. Bon-Bon likes to pretend science is her main thing, but they both know that's a lie. She moves to go up-

"Also," Bonnie stalls her. She watches pink hands wring, "I'm proud of you for telling me. About this. I know it's not easy," her voice wobbles a bit. 

Marceline drops onto her feet, making a note to vacuum later, and slowly pads forward. 

"You make it easy, Bon." She takes those fidgeting hands in hers, and smooths her tumbs over smooth bubblegum knuckles. "Talking to you isn't like - blarf - or something. It's, I dunno, not hard... and junk." 

Bonnie giggles. "You've never been more poetic than right now."

Marceline narrows her eyes. "Are you throwing shade?" She squeezes the hand in hers.

"Don't vampires prefer shade?" Bonnie challenges and tightens her grip. 

"Don't princesses prefer tact?" Marcy starts pushing.

"Doesn't tact prefer someone who cares?" Bonnie pushes back. 

"Someone who cares prefers you." She whispers and uses a bit of her vampire strength to win the wrestling game. 

"Oh!" Bonnie gets to exclaim before Marcy kisses her. 

Revenge is best served steamy. 

She feels Bonnie's fingers go limp as she sinks into the kiss. Squeezing her hands once more, Marcy pulls back to look at the now blushing gum. 

"We should go visit Simon." She suggests out of nowhere.

Bonnie's eyes go wide and she blinks twice. "What for?" 

Being so close, leaning over her, with her arms still pinned above her head, made Bonnie look so cute. Her inner vampire was pleased. Very pleased. 

Marceline shrugs and leans back, pulling Bonnie with her. She floats into the air, laying on her back, and holds Bonnie close to her, arms going around her waist. 

"We haven't hung out since he came here two weeks ago. I'm kinda worried about him." She rubs circles into the small of Bon-bon's back. 

"I want to do this for you, Marcy, but," Bonnie plucks a hair from the vampire's sweater and flicks it away, "I need to finish some research first." 

Marceline can see in her eyes how much she needs to do this. 

"You've been reading books all week, peebs, I think you need a break." She heckles. Maybe a bribe will work? "I bet Simon has some books, too, that you can use." She smirks.

Bonnie's hands smooth over her sweater as she thinks. Fingers trail up into her black hair and combs. 

"Hmmm, okaaay. Sheesh. You're good at convincing me, sometimes, you know." Bonnie admits and gives her a peck on the lips.

Marceline blushes. 

"Can I convince you to kiss me again?" She tries.

Bonnie laughs and concedes.

She feels, in that moment, like she could fly - even without vampire powers.


End file.
